AEW has decided to pull Ricky Starks from all future appearances with Game Changer Wrestling following his approved surprise appearance this past weekend at their Dream On event in New Jersey.

This seems to be in retaliation for comments that a GCW wrestler, Effy, made about Tony Khan’s father on his podcast.

GCW owner Brett Lauderdale admitted that he was blindsided by AEW pulling Starks and only found out when everyone else did.

“I don’t really have a line of communication with AEW. I’ve never talked to Tony Khan on the phone or via text in my entire life,” Lauderdale said. “They don’t talk to me. I’m not trying to say that necessarily in a negative context but, I guess, we’ve never really had to talk.”

Lauderdale added that AEW did not give him an explanation or asked any questions and he doesn’t know if this will go beyond Ricky Starks.